


Full of shooting stars brighter as they're vanishing

by bennettmp339



Category: Captain America (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Alcohol, Alpha/Beta/Omega Dynamics, Bars and Pubs, Captain America Steve Rogers, Don’t copy to another site, M/M, Mating Bites, Mostly Fluff, Omega!Bucky Barnes, Omega!Steve Rogers, Secret Relationship, not as dark as tags make it seem, the avengers have a bad day
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-22
Updated: 2019-01-22
Packaged: 2019-10-14 17:10:12
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,183
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17512595
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bennettmp339/pseuds/bennettmp339
Summary: Bucky, his Heat approaching quickly, sees a Mating bite on the back of Steve’s neck, one that wasn’t there before and does not belong to anyone he knows. After a bad day as an Avenger, he sees Steve embrace an unknown Alpha, who must be the one who left the Mated bite.





	Full of shooting stars brighter as they're vanishing

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [When the world is ours but the world is not your kind of thing](https://archiveofourown.org/works/17364683) by [bennettmp339](https://archiveofourown.org/users/bennettmp339/pseuds/bennettmp339). 



> Title is from the song [ "You're The Best Thing About Me" by U2](https://open.spotify.com/track/2dhJM2skHC9D41gHj34Kgw?si=nGzjQj8-TMWKQaIEHiBRjg).  
> Bono, Clayton, Adam C., The Edge, and Mullen, Jr., Larry J. (2017). You're The Best Thing About Me. [Recorded by U2]. On _Songs of Experience (Deluxe Edition)_. [Audio File]. Dublin, Ireland: Island Records.
> 
>  **Edit:**  
>  Please be aware that I will not identify Steve's mystery man. He is whoever you want him to be, whoever you see when you read this, from Dr. Stephen Strange to Eddie Brock, from Galaga Guy to Sebastian Stan, or simply a random Brooklynite with whom Steve has fallen in love. I am leaving his identity in your hands, dear readers.

It started at a bar in Brooklyn. Well, an Irish Pub. Well, it didn’t _start_ at Seamus’ in Brooklyn, but that was where it was confirmed. Bucky wasn’t sure who Steve’s Mated Alpha was, but he’d at least seen the man, unlike the rest of the Avengers, who hadn't known that Steve was even Mated. 

The month before his last Heat, Bucky had wondered who he could ask to be his Alpha. With so many superheroes living in close proximity, they and their Mates used a scent-neutralizing soap, which helped protect non-Avengers and their Mates. This was something that Steve and Tony took very seriously, explaining how the potential for a non-combatant, such as Alpha Dr Jane Foster, to be captured and used as leverage against the Avengers, based on the fact that they smelled distinctively like their Mated Avengers. With that argument, Thor agreed, saying that, despite his lady love’s lightning sister’s abilities with a Taser, she could use the added protection against those who would be interested in spreading evil across the galaxy by incapacitating him (there were times that Bucky was convinced that Thor used the most complicated and formal language he could, just to see the vein in Fury’s forehead throb; that had been one of them).

With that in mind, the Avengers made sure to religiously use scent neutralizing soaps and lotions, to better protect them and their Mates. It made it harder to scent who was Mated to who and who was open to a Heat Claim. Which is where Bucky’s dilemma came from. He wandered around the Tower, seeing how the Omegas reacted to the various Alphas, who was Mated, and who was a beta who was or wasn’t Mated. Drs Banner and Ross were an interesting couple, him a beta and her an Alpha - they bore each other’s Mating bites on their neck juncture, showing the world that they were Mated. Bruce’s Mating bite was occasionally visible over the collar of his button up shirts, and he and Betty regularly scented each other’s Mating bites. 

Tony had no shame, showing off Pepper’s Alpha Mating bite whenever he wore a T-shirt, which was most of the days he was in the labs. Pepper’s Mating bite wasn’t regularly seen, her collared shirts usually covering it when she worked as the CEO of Stark Industries. It was how she reacted to Tony and how he would subconsciously touch her Mating bite when they were together that showed the depth of their bonds. It was shortly after Bucky had asked Darcy to be his Alpha for his next Heat that he saw the Mating bite against Steve’s neck.

It was an accident, Bucky was sure, caused by Steve’s Heat pheromones still running strong after he’d spent his Heat with an Alpha outside of the Tower, and Bucky’s Heat pheromones ramping up for his Heat that caused Steve to tug miserably at his collar, revealing the bite. It wasn’t the love bite of a recent shared heat, but the scar of a Mated bite. Steve had immediately pulled back his shirt collar, and hadn’t said a word about who he had spent his last Heat with. Bucky tried to catch even the slightest hint of the mystery Alpha’s scent, and watched Steve carefully interact with the various Avengers, scientists, and support. Then his Heat hit fully, and he forgot about Steve’s mystery Mated Alpha, lost in the _need_ of Heat. 

A few weeks after his Heat, the Avengers had a bad day. The sort of day where everything went to hell and they weren’t able to save everyone. Which was why Bucky has ended up in the aforementioned Irish pub in Brooklyn. He wasn’t following Steve, either consciously or unconsciously. The Avengers all knew that Steve had an apartment in Brooklyn, and that he spent some time there, when missions went bad or he just needed to be alone. He returned from Brooklyn energized and excited to be back at work, so they made a point to respect his privacy, even if they had all gone past his three-story townhouse, just to be sure they knew where he was in the event of an emergency. 

It was that Irish pub, after the hellish day that he’d had, sitting at a corner table near the door when he saw Steve walking down the street. Steve was dressed nicely in khakis and a blue Oxford dress shirt, his hair still damp from his shower, and he was smiling at someone Bucky couldn’t see. 

He watched Steve for a few minutes, until whoever he was meeting came into view. After seeing Steve’s Mating bites almost a month earlier, Bucky had learned that Steve had a Mate that he hadn’t introduced to the Avengers, and knew that the unseen person was probably that Alpha. After a few moments, a tall, thin man stepped into Bucky’s view, his face lighting up when he caught sight of Steve, a charming smile crossing his face. He had high cheekbones and sparkling blue eyes, and was dressed in a slick dark gray suit, with a pale blue shirt, and a dark tie, complete with a gold tie bar. He walked up to Steve and kissed him. Steve wrapped his arms around the unknown man, one hand cradling him gently against his chest while the other tangled in his dark brown hair as they kissed with an edge of desperation. They separated after a few moments, his perfectly coiffed hair mussed from Steve’s fingers and Steve’s lips swollen from his stubble. The mystery man pressed his nose to Steve’s neck and breathed deeply, his entire body relaxing as he did. Steve did the same to him, and a blissful look crossed his face. 

Bucky knew that he was witnessing something incredibly personal and that Steve wouldn’t like knowing that he had been observed, but Bucky was unable to look away, taking in what he could of Steve’s mystery man. He wasn’t built like a traditional Alpha, but Bucky could see his designation in how aware he was of his surroundings, in his fastidiously impeccable clothing and hair, and in how he wrapped his arm around Steve after seeing Bucky staring at them, even through the tinted glass. Arms wrapped around each other, they wandered off to wherever they were going, and Bucky decided to head back to the Tower, instead of waiting to see if they came back. There would be time to talk to Steve about his mystery Alpha later. 

Later, after doing some investigating of his own, Bucky asked Steve about his mystery Alpha. During breakfast. In front of the team. Tony immediately made fun of the unknown person, and Natasha asked if she needed to find him and threaten him. With a disappointed sigh, Steve looked up and met everyone’s eye. 

“This is why you haven’t met him,” he said. “We talked, and he agreed. And, for future reference, he’s not just my Alpha, nor just my Mate. He’s my legally married husband.” With that truth bomb, Steve collected his coffee and left the common area.

**Author's Note:**

> Please feel free put your best guesses, thoughts, comments, or hopes, as to the identity of Steve's mystery Alpha in the comments.


End file.
